This post is for the mods as well as the community. After having been on this board a couple months, it seems to be grossly under-stickied. There are many threads that seem to go like this:

NEW GUY: <question that someone asks over and over about once a week>
NOT-NICE PEOPLE: You are lazy. I fart in your general direction. L2Search, n00bsauce.
NICE PEOPLE: <answer to question that is the same as the answers given to every other thread>

So one solution would be for people to just use search. But I think that solution is incomplete. In my experience, some subjects are easy to find a good answer with search (like how to perform a boost leak test). Others are almost impossible due to the level of noise (like how best to spend your first $2000 on mods).

My questions are:
1. To the mods, should this forum have more stickies?
2. To the community: is there (or should there be) some format other than a forum (like maybe a wiki) where we can keep information about these commonly-asked questions?

 

I dislike stickies, honestly.

Most people don't read them, and they just add scroll distance for frequent readers.

A single sticky that houses links to what would normally be other stickies is an acceptable compromise, but EvoM already has too many true stickies, IMO.

 

People don't search or read stickies, so why not have less clutter.

 

As RobertK mentioned, the stickies we do have tend to be ignored by most people eager to start a thread. The two threads stickied in this forum are good indicators - "Why can't I start a thread in FS?" is still one of the most common inquiries, and people still ask about why the site is slow. The other problem is the sheer quantity of stickies that we'd have in the more technical forums. Ideally we'd have a single FAQ with links to good thread, but that's pretty subjective and nobody has stepped up to write that FAQ.

What we really need is a way to get people to actually read and comprehend our FAQs. That'd solve nearly all of our problems.

 

Not to beat a dead horse, but people don't read them. The sole reason we seem to have stickies is so when the next new guy asks that same question AGAIN, we can say "well, we stickied it!"

Your idea makes sense in theory, but we see how it works in the real world.

Commonly-asked questions will always be just that. It's easier to ask then it is to hunt for info. So that's what folks do.

 

is it possible to delay new members from posting in any forum other than the newbie section for so many days (5 days or so)? that way they are forced to read,search, and get familiar with the site.

 

Yes, but the Powers That Be have decided that we don't want to alienate new members like that.

That's why we have volunteer moderators; to clean up what n00bs do.

 

You mean we're not getting paid? ****!

Srsly, if you have suggestions for threads that you think should be stickied, please PM them to the moderator(s) of the forum in which you'd like to see it stuck. We can merge or link as necessary. While we do try to keep up with things, it's impossible to read all the threads, and user input says more about how useful a thread is than our own judgement calls alone.

 

Actually, cleaning up the mess after the old farts flame the n00bs for being n00bs is more typical.

 

Very true.

 

Also we're needed to post in locked threads. BTW, my prior comments also extend to worthless stickies. If you have a suggestion for something that is dated and needs revising, is completely obsolete, or could be merged with another thread or stickied thread, please let us know that as well. It makes everyone's (everyone who reads before running to the "NEW THREAD" button that is) lives a lot easier when the forums are better organized.